Chicken Kosha: A Cost Rise, a Portion Problem and a Price Decision
Poush is a 44-cover Bengali restaurant near Gariahat, Kolkata. Chicken kosha appears in about 38% of orders and sells roughly 60 portions on a Saturday. The standard recipe uses 200 g of edible (EP) chicken per portion; the bird is bought whole at ₹240 per kg with an 80% edible yield after trimming, and the other ingredients cost ₹22 per portion. The dish sells at ₹260 before taxes, and the owner has been happy with a food cost around 31%. The poultry supplier now quotes ₹288 per kg, a 20% rise. At the same time the head chef admits there is no written recipe card and no scale at the pass, so portions "go by eye" and regulars have complained that the kosha is sometimes generous and sometimes thin. The owner wants to keep the ₹260 price and is considering simply serving a smaller piece.
1. Calculate the present and revised plate cost and food cost percentage, then evaluate three possible responses with numbers.
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Present: AP ₹240/kg ÷ 0.80 yield = ₹300 per kg EP. 200 g = ₹60. Plus ₹22 other = ₹82 plate cost. At ₹260: 82 ÷ 260 = 31.5%.
Revised: ₹288 ÷ 0.80 = ₹360 per kg EP. 200 g = ₹72. Plate cost = ₹72 + ₹22 = ₹94. At ₹260: 94 ÷ 260 = 36.2% - about 4.7 points above the old level.
Option A - raise price to hold 31.5%: 94 ÷ 0.315 = ₹298, say ₹299. That is a 15% menu rise on a mass-market dish; expect some order loss, so test it.
Option B - hold ₹260 and cut the portion to 170 g: 170 g = ₹61.20 + ₹22 = ₹83.20 → 32%. It works on paper, but the guest notices a smaller piece and the complaint about inconsistency gets worse. Reject as the only lever.
Option C - improve yield and trim. Negotiate to ₹276/kg and raise edible yield to 86% by better trimming and using trim for stock: 276 ÷ 0.86 = ₹321/kg → 200 g = ₹64.20 + ₹22 = ₹86.20 → 33.2% at ₹260. Not enough alone, but it halves the gap.
Best mix: C first, then A to ₹285 (86.20 ÷ 285 = 30.2%), keeping the portion honest. A price rise plus a yield gain beats shrinking the product.
2. What control system should the owner put in place so that the costing in the kitchen matches the costing on paper?
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The gap is not arithmetic; it is the absence of standards. Fix four things.
- Standard recipe card. One card per dish, stating EP quantities for a fixed batch (say 10 portions), method and plate cost. Weigh bone-in chicken as purchased and convert using the yield figure, so the kitchen and the accounts use one number.
- Yield (butcher's) test. Once a month, weigh a whole bird, trim it, weigh the edible portion and recalculate the yield percentage. If yield slips from 80% to 72%, plate cost rises silently - the test catches it before the monthly accounts do.
- Portion control at the pass. A digital scale and a standard ladle at the hot plate; the 200 g portion is weighed, not eyeballed. This also answers the regulars' complaint about inconsistency, which is a quality issue as much as a cost one.
- Daily and monthly reporting. The chef records portions sold; the store records chicken issued; the accounts compute actual food cost against the standard. Investigate any variance above 2 points.
Then menu engineering: chicken kosha sells 60 portions at a strong margin, so it is a high-popularity item - protect it, and recover cost on low-popularity, high-cost items by re-pricing or removing them rather than penalising the bestseller.
3. The supplier offers a 5% discount if Poush buys 40 kg of chicken twice a week instead of daily. Should the owner accept? Give your reasoning, including conditions.
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Work the numbers before saying yes. Saturday needs 60 portions × 200 g EP = 12 kg EP, which is 15 kg AP at 80% yield. A whole week at roughly 40% of Saturday's volume is around 40–45 kg AP, so two 40 kg purchases mean 80 kg a week - nearly double the requirement. Bulk buying only pays if the extra is sold or safely stored.
- Gain: 5% on ₹288 = ₹14.40 per kg, i.e. about ₹1,150 a month on 80 kg. Modest.
- Risk: chicken is highly perishable. Without blast chilling and a freezer at −18 °C, 40 kg held for three to four days means spoilage, off-flavours in the kosha, and a food-safety hazard that costs far more than ₹1,150.
Accept only if: (a) the kitchen has reliable cold storage and a written first-in-first-out log, (b) the second delivery is scheduled against actual sales, not a round figure, and (c) the discount is confirmed in writing for a fixed period so the owner can re-tender.
Otherwise counter-offer: daily delivery at ₹280 per kg, or 20 kg twice weekly with the 5%. The judgement is that a 5% buying gain must never be allowed to create a spoilage or hygiene loss, and the honest answer is to buy to the sales forecast.